


The Nino Thing

by antpower



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arashi are housemates, Arashi aren't famous, Arashi attempting subterfuge, Gaming, Happy Ending, Lies, M/M, Misunderstandings, Ohno POV, Valentine's Day, a little bit of angst, a sad and lonely folksinger, except Nino, except Nino because he's a folksinger, fake personalities, hints of Sakuraiba, kind of, mentions of Nino/other, mentions of Ohno/other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-02
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-21 15:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1555439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antpower/pseuds/antpower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nino is a folksinger. Ohno is an art student who is (mostly) okay with loving Nino from afar. Ohno's housemates aren't so okay with it, but they have a plan. The plan involves secret identities, Aiba having access to surveillance equipment and wise yet manly advice from Sho and Jun. Clearly, nothing can go wrong when they arrange for Nino and Ohno to meet on Valentine's Day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Nino Thing

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Valentine's challenge at the [ohmiyaday LJ](http://ohmiyaday.livejournal.com/14854.html) back in 2009 but I'm posting it here because I want to have everything in the same place. I've kept the dates the same, which I hope isn't too confusing, and any references to non-AU Arashi is obviously to older stuff, but as it's an AU it hopefully doesn't seem too dated.
> 
> In Japanese, koi means both carp and love. Sadly enough, this has relevance to the plot. Also, apologies to Sho's hair.

**_February 14, 2009 7:45pm_ **

  
Ohno’s not a creepy stalker. At least, he’s pretty sure he’s not a creepy stalker. Or at any rate, his intentions are good. Mostly.  
  
He wipes his palms on his best jeans and wonders how his hands can be sweating while his breath is misting, and whether or not this is really okay after all.  
  
“You’ll be fine,” says a soothing voice in his ear. Someone giggles and someone else sighs.  
  
He knows it will be fine, he can’t see what else it could be, but somewhere along the way things got complicated. It’s out of his hands now anyway.  
  
Ohno stares out at the lights on the water and waits.  
  


  
 **_November 2, 2005 9:27pm_ **

  
He hadn’t minded buying his girlfriend tickets to the Ninomiya Kazunari concert for her birthday, even though he was just a poor art student and it had taken him three months to save enough money. Yuki was a super-nice girl, and cute, and he’d kind of appreciated all the hinting, because thinking of gifts wasn’t his strong point. And if she liked some Ninomiya random folksinger person, well, Ohno wasn’t the type to get jealous.  
  
He just thought it was a bit harsh of her to dump him five minutes before the guy came on stage, was all.  
  
Ohno stared at the space where she’d stood in front of the mixing desk, quickly filling up with people. The two beers grew warm in his hands. He barely noticed the lights dim and the crowd start to cheer.  
  
He looked up at the first strum of guitar, a short, sharp twang that hung suspended above the crowd. Ninomiya was small and pale in the spotlight. His clothes were slightly too big for him, and it seemed to Ohno that it wasn’t just the clothes, there was something about Ninomiya that Ohno thought probably never fit properly anywhere.  
  
Ninomiya cleared his throat into the microphone but didn’t say anything, just smiled and turned his head away. Across the room full of smoke and people, Ohno smiled back. He didn’t know why, only that he felt something somewhere sort of slide and click into place.  
  
Ninomiya started to sing. His voice was storm clouds and sparkly hearts, as though he wasn’t singing words so much as the feeling behind them, and it struck Ohno like a blunt object. He’d never imagined a person like this existed, and it made Ohno wonder what else Ninomiya was capable of. It made him wonder what else  _he_  was capable of.  
  
After the show, he found Yuki and thanked her.  
  


  
 **_February 14, 2009 8:10pm_ **

  
“He’s late,” Aiba whispers in Ohno’s ear.  
  
Ohno briefly thinks about taking the earpiece out, but then decides that would be worse.  
  
“He can hear you, idiot,” says Jun.  
  
Ohno’s stomach growls.  
  
“He’ll come,” says Sho. “He’s just a busy guy, but he’ll definitely show up.”  
  
“And if he doesn’t, I’ll photoshop something scandalous and sell it to the papers,” says Jun.  
  
Ohno huddles into his jacket. Odaiba is a stupid place to meet. Nino probably thinks it’s cliched and dumb and overpriced. It’s crowded with happy couples and sad couples and people waiting to be part of a couple, and Ohno probably should’ve thought of something more spectacular.  
  
“I can smell onions,” says Aiba.  
  
The lights on the Rainbow Bridge slowly change colour and Ohno wonders if he has time to get a coffee, just to warm up his hands. A ferry pulls up to the pier.  
  
“Can anyone else smell onions?”  
  
Couples crowd off the ferry and blend into the couples along the shopping strip. Ohno stays on his bench.  
  
Ohno tries to distract himself by humming a tune, but he stops suddenly when a lone figure gets off the ferry.  
  
“Is it him?” Jun sounds like the overexcited kid he tries to convince everyone he never was.  
  
Nino’s bundled into an oversized coat, with a hat pulled low over his face, but that slight hunch of the shoulders, the way he seems to fold into himself, Ohno would recognise it anywhere.  
  
Ohno finds his lucky fishing lure in his pocket and clutches it.  
  


  
 **_May 26, 2006 7:17am_ **

  
Breakfast was normally noisy. Ohno should’ve probably been worried about the silence, but he was too busy studying the way the red of the raspberries swirled into the creaminess of his yoghurt.  
  
“Hey, Ohno?” said Aiba. “I think it’s really good you have this Nino thing.”  
  
Ohno blinked at him.  
  
“Aiba...” Jun rubbed his forehead and mumbled something about “too early”.  
  
Sho nodded seriously over the top of his newspaper, though that could’ve been something to do with the exchange rate.  
  
Ohno went back to his yoghurt.  
  
Aiba hadn’t finished. “And it’s cute that you have sex dreams about him, but can you keep it down a bit when we have early classes the next day?”  
  
“Keep it down...” Sho snorted. “Sounds dirty.”  
  
Jun groaned and thumped his head on the table. Sho hid behind his paper.  
  
Ohno scrunched his nose, trying to think. “I don’t have sex dreams about Nino,” he said, after giving it careful consideration. “It’s not like that.”  
  
Aiba grinned and pulled a dictaphone out of his dressing gown pocket.  
  
“Oh, God, no,” said Jun.  
  
“It’s okay for you, Matsujun, you’re at the end of the hallway. My bed’s right through the wall from his.”  
  
“It’s really  _not_  okay for me.”  
  
Aiba pressed play.  
  
It was muffled and static-y, but Ohno could hear sex noises: the bed thumping against the wall, moaning and Nino’s name. It definitely sounded like Ohno’s voice.  
  
Jun covered his ears and Sho’s newspaper started to shake and make a choking noise.  
  
“This is just the first tape!” said Aiba, his eyes huge. “Your stamina is impressive! But it’s been four nights in a row, and we’re tired and worried that if you don’t do something about this Nino thing that maybe you might explode.”  
  
Ohno was sure he’d been dreaming about moles. In his dream, it had been terribly important that he find a mole, because nobody knew what moles really looked like. But he didn’t see what moles had to do with Nino sex.  
  
Aiba kept the tape running. “It’s okay! I have a plan!”  
  
“It’s really not like that,” Ohno mumbled into his yoghurt. But it was far too easy to imagine how Nino would sound on that tape as well, and he couldn’t explain the discomfort that wasn’t  _just_  in his feelings.

  
  
 **_June 9, 2006 6:22pm_ **

  
Aiba’s plan included fireworks, binoculars and Sho cosplaying as a maid. Ohno hadn’t been told the details, but at least this time Aiba couldn’t get any liquid nitrogen.  
  
Ohno wasn’t delusional. He knew that Nino was some big star, who probably liked girls. And big stars who probably liked girls didn’t go and fall in love with regular guys like him, even if Aiba was some sort of weird science genius.  
  
He wasn’t delusional, but he thought it was important to have dreams. He kept his dreams in brightly-coloured boxes and stacked them safely in his imagination. Some of the boxes were bigger than others and kept more things inside. The one labeled “giant tuna” was average-sized and big enough to fit a boat, his fishing gear and maybe a little house by the sea. The “wood carving” box had a chainsaw and some trees and was buried under more important stuff, like the “never graduate and live with these three idiots forever” box.  
  
The Nino one was big enough to fit a whole world inside.  
  
“Any minute now!” said Aiba, peering through the binoculars and leaning over the side of the building. “The filming was supposed to finish at six.”  
  
Ohno grabbed Aiba’s sleeve so he wouldn’t fall.  
  
There was a bang and colourful sparks shot up between the buildings.  
  
“The signal!” Aiba moved the binoculars around so fast that Ohno didn’t know how he could see anything through them. “He’s coming out of the building! He’s right there! I see him, I see him!”  
  
Ohno let go of Aiba and tried to see down into the busy street below. He blinked. He really should’ve worn his glasses.  
  
“They’re putting phase two into action!”  
  
Aiba handed Ohno the binoculars and Ohno fixed them on Jun, who was disposing of the firework remains when a policeman grabbed him.  
  
“Oops,” said Aiba. “Not good.”  
  
Nino brushed past as the policeman led Jun away. He looked so normal that Ohno couldn’t pinpoint what made him stand out so brightly against the backdrop of a street filled with other people, as though they were painted in black and white and Nino in colour.  
  
“But even without Jun and the quick-dry glue, we still have the secret weapon!”  
  
Sho looked nice as a maid, Ohno thought. Nicer than expected.  
  
Aiba clutched Ohno’s arm and bounced beside him. “It’s here! It’s here!” His excitement was contagious.  
  
The secret weapon was a picture of sleeping Ohno, that Aiba had scrawled “Cutest person ever!!! Definitely should call!!!!” and Ohno’s phone number on the back of.  
  
“This will definitely,  _definitely_  work!” said Aiba.  
  
Sho stopped handing out the maid cafe flyers to people as Nino approached, and prepared the secret weapon. Ohno held his breath.  
  
Nino walked past Sho without looking up.  
  
Ohno handed the binoculars back to Aiba. “I’m going home.”  
  
He wasn’t delusional. Some things were better left as dreams.

  
  
 **_February 14, 2009 8:17pm_ **

  
Nino stares at Ohno for forever and doesn’t say anything, then he stares at his feet for forever and a bit.

“Say something,” Jun hisses.  
  
“What?” Ohno asks.  
  
Nino looks up and half-smiles, his eyes sparkling. “I’m finally meeting Oh-chan!” he says. He sounds like starlight and promises and lazy mornings. He takes Ohno by the arm.

  
  
 **_November 9, 2006 9:39am_ **

  
His first exam started at 12.  
  
Page seven of the paper showed Nino holding some girl’s hand and smiling happily at her.  
  
Ohno took to his bed with a stomachache, listening to “Kako” on repeat.  
  
He failed his course again.

  
  
 **_April, 2007, 3:06pm_ **

  
Joanna came over on a Sunday afternoon. She was a foreign exchange student and her hair sparkled in the sun. She made sculptures out of fruit and feathers and Ohno thought her mispronunciations were cute.  
  
They sat on his bed and drew caricatures of their classmates.  
  
“Who sings this song?” she asked.  
  
“Nino,” he said. “Ninomiya Kazunari. You like it?”  
  
She didn’t answer him right away, just tilted her head to the side. “It’s a bit whiny, isn’t it? And he keeps going off-key.”  
  
Ohno skipped the song.  
  
They broke up two days later. She always stole sips from his can of Pepsi Nex.

  
  
 **_February 14, 2009 8:25pm_ **

  
Nino keeps sneaking sideways glances at him. Ohno can’t stop smiling.  
  
“What do you want to do?” Nino asks.  
  
“You should eat something,” says Sho. “You hardly had anything for lunch.”  
  
Ohno looks around at all the flashy shops and food places. “But everywhere looks really expensive.”  
  
“That’s okay.” Nino slips his fingers through Ohno’s and squeezes his hand. “It’s your treat, after all.”  
  
Nino grins at him. Ohno is lost and he really doesn’t mind.

  
  
 **_September 19, 2007 11:47pm_ **

  
Sho had brought home some game, Warquest Fantasy Blitz 8 or something, and the others were obsessed with it. Ohno wasn’t very good at games, let alone games with statistics and guilds and things, so he was a bit pleased when Aiba got sick of it and he could talk to somebody about something other than troll killing again.  
  
“Yeah, teach her a lesson, Sho,” said Jun, pounding on the keyboard of his laptop from the chair next to Ohno.  
  
Aiba giggled, but Ohno didn’t think it was at Jun, it was probably at Masaki 5, the new puppy, who was biting his toes. (Nobody ever mentioned Masakis 2-4, because they didn’t want to risk Aiba’s tears. Aiba tears were the saddest thing in the universe.)  
  
Ohno started filling in his sketch of Masaki 5 fighting an army of trolls. “Who?” he asked, though they usually forgot to answer when they were in the middle of a battle.  
  
“Missmagic83,” said Sho, in a violent sort of voice.  
  
Something rattled in Ohno’s brain, but he wasn’t sure what. “Why?”  
  
“She’s supposed to be in our guild — no, Sho, use the fire bullets, she’s weak against elementals — she’s supposed to be in our guild but she keeps turning on us and stealing our plunder.” Jun had a manic gleam in his eye, like he sometimes got when Aiba drank the last of the fat-free milk or there was an especially good shoe sale.  
  
“Oh,” said Ohno, and went back to his drawing. He drew in Masaki 5 zapping the trolls with fire bullets, and thought about magic, because sometimes when there was a rattle in his brain, it just meant he had to think things through better. If he had magical powers, he’d use them to cook instant ramen without needing to wait three whole minutes. He’d give Jun a talking mirror and Sho the power of flight. He added a rough sketch of winged Sho to the sky in his picture.  
  
He thought Aiba could probably already talk to animals, and was about to ask him what other power he’d want, when Jun yelled in triumph. Sho pumped his fists in the air.  
  
“Yay, Masaki 5, yay!” said Aiba, swinging the puppy above his head.  
  
Really, Ohno didn’t think it was about magical powers at all, more like something he’d read somewhere, and it reminded him of Nino. Though, that didn’t really mean anything, most things reminded him of Nino.  
  
“Is she pinging you?” Sho asked.  
  
Like, obviously games made him think of Nino. And magic.  
  
“Yeah,” said Jun.  
  
And Nino was born in 1983.  
  
“She says ‘tell your stupid friend to watch his stupid elf back’.”  
  
And he liked to roleplay as a girl. Or, at least that’s what it said on some gossip blog on the internet, though Ohno didn’t see how anyone could know that for a fact.  
  
“Tell her she’s lame,” said Sho, resting back in his chair with a satisfied smile. “And tell her she’s not the fifth greatest gamer in all of Japan and only an idiot would put something like that on their profile.”  
  
The rattle became a clunk, as Ohno recalled the exact interview, colour of shirt Nino was wearing and what Ohno had been eating when he’d watched Nino insist that the ranking was wrong and he should’ve been first, not fifth.  
  
Ohno jumped to his feet, his sketchbook falling to the floor and startling both Aiba and Masaki 5.  
  
“Stop!” he said, pointing at Jun.  
  
Jun stopped typing and glared at him.  
  
“Nino!”  
  
“Eh?” Jun gave him that “you buy your clothes by  _mail order_?” look.  
  
“Nino! Nino!” Ohno pointed at Jun’s screen frantically.  
  
Jun’s brow creased, but after some more pointing, it cleared. He grinned his scary grin and without looking away from Ohno, he started typing again.

  
  
 **_February 14, 2009 8:53pm_ **

  
“It’s okay if you want your own,” says Ohno. “It’s good.”  
  
Nino slides closer to Ohno on the bench.  
  
“Mos Burger is the least romantic place on Earth,” says Jun. He’s been going on like that for at least five minutes. “Not to mention the lack of nutritional value.”  
  
Nino rests his head on his arm and looks up at Ohno. “I’m not hungry,” he says and sneaks another fry off Ohno’s plate.  
  
“And he’s trying to be cute,” Jun adds. “It’s sickening.”  
  
“Nino is cute,” says Ohno.  
  
Nino’s grin is so paralysing that Ohno wonders if maybe he can shoot stun lasers from his eyes or something. He blinks.  
  
“You think I’m cute!”  
  
Ohno blushes.  
  
“It’s going well,” says Sho.  
  
“He hasn’t even needed us yet,” says Aiba.  
  
Ohno hopes he won’t need them. Nino’s thigh is warm pressed up against his own and he doesn’t want things to get awkward.  
  
“Can I go get a burger?” Aiba asks. Ohno can hear Jun smack him around the head.  
  
“I got you something,” Nino says, and reaches for his bag without removing himself from Ohno’s personal space. “Valentine’s, you know.”  
  
“Oh,” says Ohno, and smiles, because he’s done something right without being prompted. “Me too.” He feels in his pocket and pulls it out. He holds the chain up in between their faces and marvels at how Nino can even look cute when he’s slightly cross-eyed. “I made it myself.”  
  
“A fish?”  
  
“Carp,” says Ohno. “Koi.”  
  
Nino grins his laser stun grin again. “Love.”  
  
Their fingers brush as Nino takes the necklace and puts it around his neck. He fumbles to do up the clasp with his cute, small hands, and Ohno’s suddenly thinking words like “tomorrow” and “forever”, and he doesn’t even feel cheesy about it.  
  
“Nice romance!” says Aiba, in English.  
  
“Open mine.” Nino nudges the flat package wrapped in newspaper toward him.  
  
Ohno usually likes to hold a present in his hands before he opens it, he likes the feeling of possibility, but he can tell what this is already and his heart sinks a little.  
  
“Soul Journey 12,” Ohno reads from the front of the game case.  
  
“That’s not out until next month!” says Sho.  
  
“That’s not out until next month,” Ohno repeats, and tries to arrange an adequate look of awe on his face.  
  
“I got an advance copy.” Nino looks so pleased with himself that Ohno’s enthusiasm becomes a little more genuine, even while guilt and shame are having a territory war over his conscience.  
  
“We’ll see who beats it first, yeah?” Nino says. “The loser has to pay next time.” He blushes and ducks his head, and it’s a cute so far beyond all the previous cute. Ohno doesn’t know how someone can be so ordinary yet so extraordinary at the same time, and he really wishes this was all based on something real.  
  
“Agree with him!” says Jun.  
  
“Okay,” says Ohno. “But I really don’t mind paying.”  
  
Nino’s laugh is also adorable, and Ohno feels a little dizzy when Nino slaps his knee and leaves his hand there.  
  
Aiba starts singing a song about “Ohno, Ohno, Nino, LOVE!” and even Jun hums along.

  
  
 **_December 29, 2007 10:05pm_ **

  
“I don’t like lying to him,” said Ohno, resting his head on Jun’s shoulder so he could read the screen.  
  
“ _He’s_  lying to  _us_ ,” said Jun. “He’s RPing as a girl.  _And_  he stole my Shimmerblade.”  
  
“I’m sick of RPing as Jun,” said Sho. “He’s just a stupid warrior, he can’t do anything cool.”  
  
“Well, you can’t RP as Ohno,” said Jun, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
Sho stared at him.  
  
“Nino’s not going to fall in love with  _you_ , you’re terrible at romance.”  
  
Sho pouted.  
  
“I’d fall in love with you, Sho,” said Aiba, patting him on the knee. “And so would Masaki 5.”  
  


  
dai_koi: I can’t beat this guy! >:X I need to level up!!

missmagic83: don’t level up until you get the stormshield!!! if you hit level 53 before you get it, it won’t be compatible with the windhelm and you need them both so you can do the typhoon combo!

_SWAMPSLUG STRIKES DAI_KOI FOR 454 HP DAMAGE_

missmagic83: hold on, i’m coming to protect you!!!! :D

dai_koi: <3

dos_bancho: he just wants the stormshield for himself, don’t trust him

missmagic83: i already have one, idiot.

missmagic83: i only steal from you, it’s funny when you cry like a girl XP

_MISSMAGIC83 ENGAGES SWAMPSLUG IN BATTLE_

_MISSMAGIC83 CASTS POWERSURGE ON SWAMPSLUG FOR 97 HP DAMAGE_

_DAI_KOI CASTS WHIRLWIND ON SWAMPSLUG FOR 58 HP DAMAGE_

dos_bancho: i’m going to get a drink, brb

dai_koi: ah, this is no good

missmagic83: it would be easy if your stupid elf friend would stop being scared of me and come back. maybe i shouldn’t have pwnd him so hard XP

_SWAMPSLUG STRIKES DAI_KOI FOR 498 HP DAMAGE_

_SWAMPSLUG STRIKES MISSMAGIC83 FOR 334 HP DAMAGE_

missmagic83: this sucks

dos_bancho: back

missmagic83: you have the moltenblade, right? if you hit him with that it should lower his m.def and then we can double blast him with firestorm or something

dai_koi: ok

dai_koi: i’ll swap weapons now, jas

dos_bancho: he’s not scared of you!!!!!!

dos_bancho: he could take you any time!!!! >:X!!!!

missmagic83: sure

_DAI_KOI STRIKES SWAMPSLUG FOR 23 HP DAMAGE_

_MISSMAGIC83 CASTS FIRESTORM ON SWAMPSLUG FOR 402 HP DAMAGE_

missmagic83: XDDDDDDDDD

missmagic83: we’re an awesome team!!!!

dai_koi: <33333

dos_bancho: i have to go

_DOS_BANCHO LOGS OUT_

_SWAMPSLUG STRIKES MISSMAGIC83 FOR 203 HP DAMAGE_

_SWAMPSLUG STRIKES DAI_KOI FOR 191 HP DAMAGE_

_MISSMAGIC83 CASTS HEAL ON DAI_KOI FOR 829 HP_

dai_koi: thx <3

missmagic83: np

_DAI_KOI CASTS FIRESTORM ON SWAMPSLUG FOR 531 HP DAMAGE_

_CHESUTO1000 LOGS IN_

chesuto1000: i’m totally not scared of you!!!

missmagic83: i’m starting to be scared of YOU!

missmagic83: are you and that gay warrior guy actually teh same person?

missmagic83: because that’s just LAME!!

_SWAMPSLUG STRIKES MISSMAGIC83 FOR 271 HP DAMAGE_

_SWAMPSLUG STRIKES DAI_KOI FOR 295 HP DAMAGE_

missmagic83: i’m sick of this guy now

chesuto1000: NO, THAT’S JUST STUPID, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK THAT?

dai_koi: do you still have your magma torch?

missmagic83: OH, GOOD IDEA!!! with your electrablade, right?

dai_koi: yeah

missmagic83: you’re awesome <333

missmagic83: good luck!!!

dai_koi: <3

_DAI_KOI CASTS ICARUS FLAME COMBO ON SWAMPSLUG FOR 7301 HP DAMAGE_

_SWAMPSLUG IS DEFEATED_

_MISSMAGIC83 PICKS UP 393 GOLD COINS_

_DAI_KOI PICKS UP 315 GOLD COINS_

_MISSMAGIC83 GAINS 2015 EXP_

_DAI_KOI GAINS 2804 EXP_

missmagic83: YAY!!!! XDDDD

chesuto1000: i think YOU’RE the same person!!!

missmagic83: whatever

dai_koi: WE DID IT!!!

missmagic83: now grab the shield!!!!

_DAI_KOI PICKS UP STORMSHIELD_

missmagic83: yay!!!

dai_koi: XDDDDDDDDD

chesuto1000: you suck

_MISSMAGIC83 STRIKES CHESUTO1000 FOR 103 HP DAMAGE_

_MISSMAGIC83 WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FOR CHESUTO1000 AS GUILD LEADER_

chesuto1000: i meant you, not ohno

missmagic83: oh, sorry

_MISSMAGIC83 HEALS CHESUTO1000 FOR 462 HP_

_MISSMAGIC83 NOMINATES DAI_KOI AS GUILD LEADER_

_CHESUTO1000 SUPPORTS DAI_KOI AS GUILD LEADER_

_DAI_KOI IS NOW GUILD LEADER_

missmagic83: i should go, early day tomorrow DX

dai_koi: ok night <3

missmagic83: GOODNIGHT LEADER!!! <3333333 TALK TO YOU SOON! uwu

chesuto1000: i’m really not scared of you

_MISSMAGIC83 LOGS OUT_

  
Ohno stared at the modem lights flickering, as if they were saying hello. He didn’t really understand how Jun’s words could appear on someone else’s screen in some other place. Things like that made no sense. Aiba had tried to explain it to him once with a diagram, but it still didn’t seem like something that should be possible. Ohno stared at the air above his head and imagined the little pieces of Nino floating in it. Nino’s ideas. Nino’s words.  
  
Nino’s words and Jun’s words. Not his.

  
  
 **_February 14, 2009 9:22pm_ **

  
“How are you so good at that?” Nino asks, panting and standing close behind Ohno as Ohno’s name flashes at the top of the Dance Dance Revolution high scores.  
  
Ohno shrugs.  
  
“And how are you not doing that professionally?”  
  
Ohno shrugs again. “I don’t think anyone plays DDR professionally.” He likes the way Nino is looking at him, really likes it, as if Ohno is someone special and wonderful and not just some guy. But the game centre is making him nervous, it’s fraught with dangers, so he can’t relax and enjoy it properly.  
  
“You know that’s not what I mean.” Nino takes Ohno’s hand again and leads him away. “Come on, let’s play something I stand a chance at beating you in.”  
  
Ohno follows Nino toward the back of the centre, and almost cries when Nino drops his hand to put 200 yen in the Tekken 5 machine.  
  
“This is bad,” says Aiba.  
  
“He really sucks at fighting games,” says Jun.  
  
“He just mashes the buttons and hopes for a combo,” says Sho. “Anyone with half a brain can tell he has no idea what he’s doing.”  
  
Nino selects King and glances back at Ohno. Ohno hesitates. He’s stuck midway between the truth and Nino and wanting them both.  
  
“Just pick Paul,” says Jun. “I’ll talk you through it. If you stick to simple attacks you might be okay.”  
  
Ohno steps up and his hand hovers over the select button. Nino’s smile is already so familiar and Ohno wants to deserve it.  
  
“It’s no good,” he says. “I can’t do it.”  
  
Nino’s brow crinkles and it makes his eyebrows go wavy. Jun yells in Ohno’s ear.  
  
“Huh?” Nino asks.  
  
“I can’t play games,” Ohno tells him.  
  
“Red alert!” says Aiba. “Danger! Red Alert!”  
  
“It’s okay,” says Sho. “This might be good.”  
  
“How is it good?” Jun asks, and Ohno remembers all the hard work Jun has put in, RPing and building character profiles, studying Nino and trying to sound like Ohno. Sho too, and Aiba, they all did so much just to get him this time with Nino.  
  
Nino, who stares at Ohno with a look he can’t decipher. It’s not a cute look, it’s a cold look, Nino’s eyes are narrowed and his cheeks are gaunt. Ohno wants that look to go away.  
  
“I... hurt my hand,” he says, flexing it. He looks at his hand and not at Nino. “My housemate... he hit it... with a hammer.”  
  
“Oi!” says Aiba. “I was trying to help!”  
  
“It hurts to move it.” He wiggles his fingers experimentally and imagines that the flash of guilt is a flash of pain in his hand. Lying to Nino’s face is different to lying to him through a screen, it’s real and wrong and horrible.  
  
He looks up at Nino. “I’m sorry.”  
  
Nino smiles at him. “It’s okay,” he says, and bends down to press the red button and get his money back. “How about I win you something cute on those grabby claw machines?”  
  
Ohno nods and Nino throws an arm around his shoulder, fitting perfectly into his side. It cheers Ohno up a little, but he still remembers that cold look on Nino’s face and he knows it will be there again sometime, when this all falls apart.

  
  
 **_March 17, 2008 10:09am_ **

  
Ohno stared at the message in his inbox for 47 minutes before clicking on it.  
  
The subject line was “*^_^*!! (^~^~^)  <33 *^_^* /:—)” which Ohno didn’t really understand, but thought was a good sign.  
  
The email wasn’t long, it just said “GOOD LUCK FOR YOUR FIRST DAY OF TERM!” in big, sparkly letters, and there was a jpeg attached of Nino’s Warquest Fantasy Blitz character jumping on Sho’s character’s head.  
  
Ohno sent back a photo of his laundry basket, before grabbing his jacket and rushing out the door. He’d forgotten about the school thing.  
  
Halfway through Art History class, Ohno’s phone beeped.  
  
It was a picture of a turkey.  
  
The lecturer gave Ohno a dirty look. Ohno apologised and hid his phone under the desk. He mailed back “##?23” and got a reply less than a minute later. It was a map of Uzbekistan.  
  
He didn’t even care when he was sent from the lecture hall.

  
  
 **_February 14, 2009 9:41pm_ **

  
Nino curls up on the bus seat and into Ohno’s side.  
  
“We’re in the car right behind you,” says Aiba. “Don’t panic! If you look out the window, I’m waving!”  
  
“Where to next, Leader?” Nino’s hair smells like apples and cigarettes.  
  
“You were the one who wanted to catch the bus.”  
  
Nino laughs, as if Ohno has said something brilliant. Ohno’s getting used to this perpetual state of happy confusion. It’s much nicer than normal old confused confusion.  
  
“I was thinking north,” says Nino. “Some of my friends did a quest in the mines under Mt Kirakira and they found a lot of really rare treasure.”  
  
Ohno sighs.  
  
“We’re doing the Prism Forest next,” says Jun. “Sho needs the Minotaur Armour.”  
  
“I want to do the Prism Forest,” says Ohno. “To get Sho’s Mirrorball Armour.”  
  
Nino shifts slightly in his seat. His fingers curl around Ohno’s arm. “Minotaur?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Good idea.” Nino rubs his cheek on Ohno’s shoulder, his eyes falling closed.  
  
“Now, kiss him before he talks more!” says Aiba.  
  
Ohno smiles into Nino’s hair.

  
  
 **_June 17, 2008 11:12am_ **

  
Sho was borderline catatonic and mostly bald and Ohno couldn’t stop laughing as he sent the picture.  
  
“Best birthday present ever!” Nino sent back.  
  
Jun smoothed down the tufts of hair around Sho’s face. Aiba buried his giggles in a pillow.  
  
“At least it’s not premature hair loss,” said Jun, trying to do some sort of comb-over thing at the back of Sho’s head.  
  
“It’s okay, Sho,” said Aiba, coming up for air. “You look totally gangsta, yo.” He made gangsta hands at him. Sho didn’t even notice, just stared in bewilderment from Jun back to the mirror.  
  
“Hair removal cream in his shampoo, Leader?” Jun said. “This isn’t like you.” He tried to scowl in a disapproving way, but his lip twitched and he couldn’t meet Ohno’s eye.  
  
Ohno shrugged. “Maybe it is,” he said. “Maybe I’m exactly like this and I just never knew.”  
  
His phone beeped again, but the picture of Sho was still on the screen and it took a while to stop laughing and get the message.  
  
“I’m giving a red afro wig to the courier right now.”  
  
Ohno stared at the message and wondered if it was weird that those were the words to make him realise he was stupidly in love.  
  


  
 **_February 14, 2009 9:56pm_ **

  
Nino chatters as they walk, about games and work and magic, and Ohno likes it. He nods and agrees with everything Nino says.  
  
“The line’s really long,” Ohno says.  
  
Nino stops walking and turns to Ohno. He stands close, really close. Ohno can see Nino’s chin mole and his slight scattering of stubble, the exact place where his cheekbones start to curve. Ohno wants to brush the hair out of Nino’s eyes, but he’s not sure that kind of thing is allowed.  
  
They’re almost exactly the same height.  
  
“But that’s okay, right?”  
  
The Ferris Wheel lights reflect in Nino’s eyes, across his skin, and Ohno wants to draw a frame around this moment, to hang it somewhere outside of time, so that it exists forever.  
  
“The signal might cut out,” says Jun. “You’ll need to keep him distracted.”  
  
Ohno nods.  
  
“Don’t encourage them,” says Sho. “I don’t want to hear their sex noises.”  
  
“We’re not having sex on a Ferris Wheel!” says Ohno.  
  
A few people stare at him, but Nino just smirks and leads him onward. Ohno follows. He’s pretty sure he’d follow Nino anywhere.

  
  
 **_August 23, 2008 7:14pm_ **

  
“Wouldn’t it be weird if after all this, we were wrong and it wasn’t Nino at all,” said Aiba, trying to hold Masaki 5’s paw still so he could paint his paw-nails sparkly green. “What if it  _was_  just some girl.”  
  
Jun stopped typing. Sho looked up from his screen. The pencil fell from Ohno’s hand.  
  
Jun smacked Aiba around the head. “Idiot, of course it’s him!”  
  
“Oi, you made me smudge it!”  
  
Sho went back to his laptop. “After all our research, I’m reasonably sure it’s him.”  
  
Ohno’s phone beeped. The message said, “let’s gang up on Sho”, so Ohno passed his phone to Jun. Jun grinned.  
  
Ohno shrugged. “It’s okay. I just like who I like.” He replied with a picture of a fish he’d caught the night before and got back a dozen assorted smiley faces.  
  
Sho groaned. “Ah, not again.”  
  
Ohno was sure it didn’t matter anyway.

  
  
 **_February 14, 2009 10:16pm_ **

  
The Ferris Wheel operator has barely closed the door before Ohno has a lapful of Nino. He winds his arms around Ohno’s waist and buries his nose in Ohno’s neck. His knees dig into Ohno’s hips and Ohno likes that, he likes Nino’s sharp angles, how Nino looks fragile but isn’t.  
  
Nino is shaking, Ohno thinks he might be laughing, but when Nino looks up, his eyes are serious.  
  
“Oh-chan,” Nino whispers and presses his forehead to Ohno’s.  
  
Ohno traces the edge of Nino’s t-shirt, fingertips brushing the skin of Nino’s back. Nino’s lips barely touch his, and the world freezes around them. The water and the city and the lights, everything stops, and they’re rising, rising above it all. Nino’s eyelashes flutter on Ohno’s cheeks.  
  
Nino’s hands are cold and smooth under Ohno’s shirt, tracing the lines of his stomach, his chest, his sides. Ohno pushes up against him. He wants more of Nino, all of him. Nino grinds down and Ohno’s fingers thread through his belt-loops, dig into his hips and pull him closer. They still rise, up and up and up.  
  
Nino’s bottom lip trails down Ohno’s neck, over his Adam’s apple, his collarbone. Ohno’s head thumps back against the glass and he groans Nino’s name. Nino kisses him again, seriously, full of intent. He sucks on Ohno’s bottom lip.  
  
The haze that usually covers the world is gone, and there’s only the heat of Nino’s body, Nino’s skin on his, the tickle of Nino’s hair on his face, the sound of Nino’s breath. Nino pushes Ohno’s jacket off his shoulders and Ohno has never wanted anything this much in his life.  
  
He raises his hips to meet Nino’s, and Nino gasps against Ohno’s skin. Nino’s fingers drag across the waistband of Ohno’s jeans, run down the zipper. Ohno bites his lip.  
  
Nino pulls back slightly to look Ohno in the eye. Ohno hovers at a place on the edge of reality and he wants to fall, wants Nino to push him.  
  
“Is it...”  
  
Aiba giggles. “They’re totally going to do it on the Ferris Wheel.”  
  
The world comes rushing back, forces its way into Ohno’s senses. The girl in the car above them meets his eye and gives him the thumbs up. He wants Nino, wants to say yes to him, wants him so much that it’s hard to be rational about it, but there’s too much going on all at once and he needs this to be right.   
  
He shakes his head and Nino backs away.  
  
The Ferris Wheel begins its descent.

  
  
 **_November 26, 2008 10:34am_ **

  
He had five messages from Nino when he woke up. The first said “YOU! Happy birthday, you!!!  <3”. There were two pictures of Nino’s breakfast, a before and an after, and one of a vending machine selling canned cakes. The last message said “Wake up! I’m BORED!!!!” Ohno smiled as he got out of bed.  
  
He was still smiling at lunchtime, when he sent Nino a picture of his mother’s onigiri.  
  
He was smiling later in the afternoon, and sent a picture of an old couple asleep on the train.  
  
He smiled as he watched Jun cook his birthday dinner, and sent Nino a message saying “good luck with your show tonight! Sorry I couldn’t get tickets <333”.  
  
Then he realised what he’d done.  
  
Nino didn’t answer.  
  
Ohno stopped smiling.  
  


  
 **_February 14, 2009 10:33pm_ **

  
Nino plays with Ohno’s hand, bending his fingers and then straightening them. He feels too far away.  
  
“This whole thing is glass,” says Ohno. “And you left your hat at Mos Burger.”  
  
Nino nods, wiggling Ohno’s pinky from side to side. “We should’ve gone to karaoke instead,” he says.  
  
“We can’t do it at karaoke,” says Ohno. “That would be wrong.”  
  
Nino smiles, only it’s not really anything like a smile. “Love hotel?”  
  
Ohno shrugs. “Maybe.”  
  
Nino sighs and drops Ohno’s hand. “Let’s just play Mario Kart or something.” He moves to the other side of the Ferris Wheel car and it feels like an ocean between them.  
  
“Don’t panic,” says Sho. “Aiba’s DS is in your inside pocket.”  
  
Ohno takes out the DS and finds Mario Kart in the game wallet.  
  
“Pick 150cc,” says Jun, so Ohno does.  
  
He selects Yoshi and a racetrack appears. He tells himself he can do this. He just needs to get through this, get off the Ferris Wheel and go somewhere quiet, and then he can get back to the kissing and the touching and everything will be okay.  
  
“Okay, it’s pretty easy,” says Jun. “Accelerate is —”  
  
The earpiece cuts out.  
  
The numbers count down 3-2-1 and it feels a bit like a countdown to doom.  
  
The earpiece cuts back in long enough for him to hear Jun say “...and then release it to shoot or...” and then he’s gone again.  
  
Ohno pushes a bunch of buttons but nothing happens, Yoshi just sits there, while everyone zooms past him.  
  
Nino pauses the game. “You okay?”  
  
“Um,” says Ohno. He wiggles his head in case that brings Jun’s instructions back. It doesn’t.  
  
“Is your hand still sore?” There’s something funny in Nino’s voice.  
  
“Um,” Ohno says again, and looks up at Nino. He forces a smile. “Sure. I’ll totally pwn you.”  
  
Nino’s eyes narrow. “Own,” he says. “It’s pronounced own. Silent p.”  
  
Ohno nods and looks back down at the game. He figures this is it, this is the bit where everything falls apart, and he can’t look at Nino’s face while it happens.  
  
“Remember that first time we fought together alone?” Nino asks softly. “Just you and me against the Log Dragon? I forget how we killed it.”  
  
Ohno taps his ear, but nobody comes to his rescue. He strains to remember something from the chats he read, anything that will sound convincing and let him put this moment off. He rubs the back of his neck.  
  
“Was it fire bullets?” Fire would definitely kill a log, he thinks. He smiles at Nino nervously, a little proud of his deductive reasoning.  
  
Nino doesn’t smile back. “There’s no such thing as a Log Dragon.”  
  
They stare at each other across the Ferris Wheel car. The real world grows bigger around them.  
  
“Who are you?” Nino’s voice is sharp, jagged, like the edge of something smashed to pieces.  
  
“Ohno Satoshi,” he says. “I’m just me.” This whole thing is going too fast and he wants to take it back a minute or two so he can catch up, sort himself out.  
  
“What’s that thing in your ear? I thought you were maybe half-deaf or something, but you’re not, are you.”  
  
“I don’t play games,” Ohno says. It’s the only thing he can think of to make things right. “I’m not even very good at Wii Bowling.” He takes the earpiece out and rolls it around in his fingers.  
  
“Have you been recording this the whole time? How much were you offered for the story?”  
  
Ohno shakes his head. “I just wanted to...”  
  
Nino shifts in his seat to sit sideways, with his chin on his knees. “Stop talking.”  
  
Ohno stares through the glass floor, watches everyone milling around in the line to the Ferris Wheel. He sees someone pushing through the people, talking on a walkie-talkie, and knows it’s Aiba. Something else catches the light, probably Jun, and Ohno doesn’t want to face them.  
  
The silence isn’t comfortable. He wishes he was good with words.  
  
He stands up when they approach the platform.  
  
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I just wanted to meet you.”  
  


  
 **_January 29, 2009 2:15pm_ **

  
The message came out of nowhere.  
  
“When did you figure it out?”  
  
Ohno’s hands shook as he typed the reply. “I always knew.”  
  
Aiba and Jun slammed the freezer door shut, then opened it a crack to peek inside.  
  
“This is a tragic waste of natural resources,” said Sho. “And there is no way the bubbles will freeze in that temperature before they hit the sides and pop.”  
  
Ohno didn’t expect to hear from Nino again.  
  
“Do we know anyone who has a commercial freezer?” asked Jun. “One of those walk-in ones?”  
  
“My parents own a Chinese restaurant!” said Aiba.  
  
“We know,” said Jun. “But I don’t see how that’s relevant.”  
  
“But the pickles!” said Sho. “Let’s go anyway.”  
  
Ohno’s phone beeped. The message said, “oh”.  
  
Ohno thought it was a good time to come clean about the whole gaming thing, but before he could distract the others from the “bubbles vs gyoza” debate so they could tell him what to write, Nino sent a picture of himself wearing five pairs of sunglasses, and Ohno thought maybe he’d missed his chance.  
  
Another message came almost straight away. “I want to meet you.”

  
  
 **_February 14, 2009 10:49pm_ **

  
Ohno ducks behind a short girl holding a giant elephant balloon to avoid the others. He just wants to go home, maybe get a little drunk and try to rebuild his imaginary world, but the Ferris Wheel ride took the last of his money and he has no idea where Sho parked the car.  
  
Ohno’s never felt like this before, this  _need_. He likes his housemates, he can’t imagine a life without them, but he’s always been happy to go off on his own. He had art and fishing and his friends and family and that was always enough. Before this, this Nino  _thing_ , he never felt like anything was lacking, there was no empty space in his life, but now there’s this great big Nino-shaped chasm that Ohno has no idea how to fill.  
  
He peeks around the elephant balloon for a last look at Nino. Ohno hadn’t noticed before, but Nino seems tired, he covered up the sad shadows in his eyes with a sparkle but it’s obvious now in the way he slumps, how he wraps his arms around himself.  
  
The girl with the balloon moves forward in the line and Ohno feels exposed. He sticks his jaw out a little and pretends to be someone else.  
  
Jun cuts through the crowd and grabs Nino’s arm. They glare at each other and then start yelling. Ohno can only hear fragments through all the happy couples, words like “Valentine’s” and “Ohno” and “liar” and Ohno wishes they wouldn’t. Nino pulls his arm away and tries to walk off, but Sho and Aiba block his way. Sho nods and says something. Aiba looks like he might cry.  
  
Ohno knows Jun is really angry by the way he stands over Nino, looking down at him. The four voices mingle together and the happy couples back away, making a wide circle around them.  
  
Ohno’s not a coward. He doesn’t know what he is, really. He’s just a person, but when he’s around Nino he feels like maybe he could be someone better. He knows he’s done something wrong and he has to pay for it, but none of this is Nino’s fault and even if he can’t save the situation, he can try to save Nino.  
  
After all, nobody deserves an angry Jun.

  
  
 **_February 10, 2009 8:11pm_ **

  
“You just put this bit in your ear,” said Aiba, twiddling with a knob that made a screechy noise come out of the little ear thing. “It’s foolproof.”  
  
Ohno looked at the ear thing. Sometimes Aiba was scary.  
  
“I don’t know,” he said. “Can’t I just wing it?”  
  
Jun patted him on top of the head. “Nino knows  _a lot_  about games. And he thinks you do too.”  
  
“I could just tell him the truth,” said Ohno. “That I’m just me, but when I’m playing games it’s you. Isn’t that better?”  
  
Sho gave him a bracing smile. “Don’t you think it’s better to tell him the truth after he gets to know you properly?”  
  
Ohno pouted. “You just want to come on my date with me.”  
  
Aiba clapped his hands. “Date! Yay!”  
  
“It’s like having insurance,” Sho explained. “You’re giving up something now because there’s a risk you might lose something in the future, but it’s okay because we’ve got you covered.”  
  
Jun nodded. “It’s like fishing. You have to hook the fish before you can reel it in.”  
  
Ohno understood that, but he thought that maybe Sho and Jun had been reading too many romance novels. And anyway, Nino wasn’t a fish.

  
  
 **_February 14, 2009 10:53pm_ **

  
“SPINNING TYPHOON FIRESTORM COMBO KICK!” Ohno yells and jumps at the four of them. He’s not sure it’s the best way to fix things, but he couldn’t come up with anything else on short notice.  
  
There’s some yelling and crashing and then they’re a pile of sprawling limbs to the side of the Ferris Wheel line.  
  
“I think my thumb is broken,” says Sho.  
  
Nino headbutts Aiba’s leg out of the way to glare up at Ohno. “Get off me,” says Nino. “You’re a lying liar and I don’t forgive you.”  
  
“That was mostly Matsujun,” Aiba tells him. He sounds muffled and out of breath and Ohno’s pretty sure he has the giggles. “And a little bit Sho. Definitely not me or Leader though!”  
  
“Leader wanted to tell the truth the whole time.” Jun’s still mad, Ohno can tell, so he tries to move his knee from Jun’s stomach.  
  
Nino’s face softens a little around the edges, but his eyes are still cold. “Well, I don’t forgive you for having stupid friends.”  
  
“They’re your friends too,” Ohno mumbles. “Sort of.”  
  
“I’m not!” says Jun. “He stole my Shimmerblade!”  
  
Nino struggles to get up and Sho yelps.  
  
“Sorry,” says Nino. “I was aiming for the gay warrior.”  
  
Aiba wiggles around to face Nino. “You like him though, right? It wasn’t just the gaming. If it was just the gaming then you’d like Jun instead, but you like Leader, don’t you? Don’t you!” Aiba reaches back to squeeze Ohno’s cheeks and elbows Sho. “You think he’s cute.”  
  
Nino looks away. “It wouldn’t work out. We have nothing in common.”  
  
Ohno thinks about that, about magic and fishing and everything, but none of it seems important. “You sent me Uzbekistan,” Ohno tells him.  
  
Nino almost smiles. “I’m not good with people,” he says. “I never had to be.”  
  
Ohno nods, even though Nino still isn’t looking at him, because he gets it, he really does. It’s to do with not quite fitting right and brightly-coloured secret boxes and how you couldn’t explain why pictures of turkeys were funny. And he thinks that maybe Nino needs him as much as he needs Nino, and maybe not just him, but Sho and Aiba and Jun as well.  
  
“I tried to learn how to cook once,” Ohno says. “It burned a bit and I forgot the egg, but I still thought it tasted good.” He trusts that Nino will understand.  
  
Jun groans. “Chahan isn’t even that hard.”  
  
Nino’s eyes flicker to Ohno’s then away again, and his cheeks stain pink, though that’s maybe from lack of oxygen. “I don’t actually care that you suck at gaming.”  
  
“I’m sorry I lied,” Ohno says.  
  
“If you had normal friends you probably wouldn’t be so socially maladjusted.” The sparkle starts returning to Nino’s eyes and Ohno wishes there weren’t three people between them.  
  
“You’re getting back together, right? This is good, right?” Aiba turns his head to look from Nino to Ohno and back again, then jiggles Sho’s foot.  
  
“You made me a carp,” Nino says quietly.  
  
“It’s love,” Ohno tells him.  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
Nino tilts his head up and Ohno shimmies forward to kiss him, and even with Jun flailing to get away and Aiba grinning in their faces, it’s perfect, it’s right.  
  
“You guys,” says Sho. “I wasn’t kidding about my thumb.”


End file.
